Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher; Photo credit: Honenu
Tuesday, December 8, 2020, 15:36 Honenu Attorney Chayim Bleicher: “We are pleased with the indictment. We hope that the indictment will send a clear message to reprehensible criminals such as the defendant in this case: Humiliating antisemitic acts will not be ignored. We will continue to demand that every antisemite is prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”
In early December, following a request by Bleicher to reopen an investigative case, the Jerusalem Police indicted an Arab who humiliated and spit at R., a 71-year-old Jewish man, on the eve of the Shavuot holiday (this year May 28-29) near Sha’ar Shechem (Damascus Gate) in the Old City of Jerusalem. The defendant is charged with simple assault. Initially the defendant was detained for interrogation, but later he was released and the case was closed on the grounds of lack of criminal culpability.
After the case was closed, Chayim Bleicher sent a letter to the Jerusalem Police demanding that the investigation be reopened and the assailant brought to trial. In his letter Bleicher stated that R. was assaulted as he walked with his grandson up the stairs near Sha’ar Shechem. “[An Arab] approached him and spit at his back, only because he was a Jew with a Jewish appearance. My client’s clothing was stained by the large amount of phlegm.” R.’s grandson identified the assailant and walked with his grandfather to the closest police checkpoint. Then they walked to the Merchav David (Old City) Police Station to file a complaint against the assailant and the grandson testified that the assault was intentional.
Bleicher also noted that his client is an IDF veteran who served in most of Israel’s wars, including the Six Day War, the War of Attrition, the Yom Kippur War, and the First Lebanon War. “It is intolerable that at my client’s advanced age, after he sacrificed so much for all of us in the State of Israel, he is assaulted and humiliated in the streets of Israel, and then the assailant is immediately released and the case closed.”